Board of Directors

Brooke Abola - President

Brooke Abola is a past and the current President of the Board of Directors, serving in her seventh year on the Board. She works as an Associate General Counsel for the Federal National Mortgage Association and has spent most of her legal career advising public agencies on finance-related matters. She has also spent significant time on pro bono work for education-oriented nonprofits, including Appleseed, the Oakland Small Schools Foundation, and the Funding the Next Generation initiative. Before law school, she taught English Language Learners at Castlemont High School in Oakland as a Teach for America Corps Member. She is a parent of two BlueSkies graduates and enjoys hiking, music, and volunteering in her children’s school communities.

Alycia Kellman - Co-Vice President

Alycia Kellman is Associate General Counsel at New Island Capital Management. She has worked as an attorney in the impact investment field for nearly two decades, with a focus on mitigating climate change and improving livelihoods for the most vulnerable. Alycia holds a JD from Georgetown University, a master’s degree in human rights and democratization from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and a BA in political science from Yale University. Alycia is a strong supporter of Oakland public schools. Her two children each started at BlueSkies when they were 12 weeks old. Her eldest is now a first grader at Emerson Elementary. Her youngest is in the Homeroom.

Lauren Webster - Co-Vice President

Lauren Webster is an Investment Banker with Piper Sandler, focused on technology mergers and acquisitions and capital raising advisory services, with specific expertise in cybersecurity, defense technology, and commercial space markets. Lauren’s career spans roles in finance across equity research, investment banking, and strategic planning, as well as serving in multiple product leadership roles at cybersecurity technology companies. Lauren holds a dual BA in Mathematics and Women’s & Gender Studies from Dartmouth College, and an MA in Security Studies from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Lauren is the proud parent of two BlueSkies graduates, and a former chair of parent fundraising committees at BlueSkies. She lives with her husband, Matt, and two daughters, Sally and Maddie, in Oakland. Lauren and her husband are also former Navy Reservists, serving as Intelligence and Supply Corps officers, respectively.

Dr. Rose Snyder - Secretary

Dr. Rose Snyder is a clinical psychologist with a private practice in Portland, OR. In 2005-2007, she worked as a psychotherapy intern at BlueSkies, through a program called The Link to Children (TLC). She loved the school so much that she kept in touch over the years and then accepted a position as the Director of Mental Health at BlueSkies upon completing her licensure in 2012. For six years, she worked as “Dr. Rose” at BlueSkies, providing psychotherapy to children and families at the school, offering education to school staff regarding development and mental health issues for young children, and consulting with staff on an as-needed basis. Dr. Rose sees clients of all ages in her private practice and is the mother of two young children, ages 6 and 8.

Michael Shih - Treasurer

Michael is the VP, Business Banking Sales Manager at U.S. Bank. His son is currently in the Todds at BlueSkies.

Christa Edwards

Christa is the current Executive Director at BlueSkies for Children. She has been at the school since 2009, when she started as a volunteer in the Baby House, and has worked in all of the classrooms at the school at some point in her career. She served on the Board for seven years before moving into the Interim Director role. Her daughter, Naomi, attended BlueSkies from 6 months old until she was 5.5 years old, as she was part of the one-year-long Kindergarten pop-up class during the peak of the COVID pandemic. She lives with her husband in Richmond, CA, and is thrilled to be supporting the school’s development in a new way.

Cindy Green

Cindy Green is a civil engineer at the East Bay Municipal Utility District and manages water infrastructure projects at the District. She holds a BA in Environmental Sciences from UC Berkeley, and an MS in Civil Engineering/ MPAff in Public Affairs from UT Austin. She lives in Oakland just a few blocks away from BlueSkies where she walks to school daily with her daughter, Iris, currently in the Homeroom.

Haneefah Peters, Ed.D.

Haneefah Peters, Ed.D. (Dr. Peters) has worked in the field of early education for over 18 years. She holds a Masters in Early Childhood Education and a Doctorate in Educational Leadership from San Francisco State University. Her extensive background in leading early learning programs, parent education and college instruction gives her a breadth of knowledge and experience in the field.  As an educator she focuses on building teachers’ confidence and critical thinking skills as relates to understanding the needs of young children.  Dr. Peters is excited to support Bluesskies to give back to the school as a thank you for all she learned over 15 years ago when she served as a Wobblies assistant teacher.

Lisa Freitas

Lisa Freitas is an Attorney/Mediator at Sawyer Mediation and provides family law mediation services for parties with divorce, parenting, custody, support and other family law disputes, as well as cohabitation, premarital and post marital agreements. Lisa holds a B.A. from UCLA, an M.A. Psychology from Golden Gate University and a J.D. from UC Hastings College of the Law. She and her husband live in Alameda with their 3 kids: Aidan, a Freshman at RIT in Rochester, NY and their daughters, Olivia (11), and June (6), both alums of BlueSkies and a 6th Grader at Lincoln Middle School and a 1st grader at Otis Elementary School, respectively.

Morgan Fiddler

Morgan Fiddler currently works on the Strategic Partnerships team for Salesforce. Before working in tech, Morgan worked in the maritime industry where he taught boat building in NYC schools through the Brooklyn Boatworks. Additionally, he provides pro bono consulting to nonprofits through PennPac, an organization of University of Pennsylvania alumni working with nonprofits to solve their business challenges. Morgan holds an M.B.A. from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, an M.M. from San Francisco Conservatory, and a B.A. from Guilford College. His youngest child is currently a student in the School Room.

Rosalia Arteaga-Romo

Rosalia Arteaga-Romo joined BlueSkies in 2012. She graduated from San Francisco State with a B.A. in Child & Adolescent Development. She is bilingual (Spanish) and previously worked in the child care center at San Francisco State. She was the Wobbly Walkers’ Head Teacher before joining the Schoolroom.

Scott Farrar

Scott is a product manager at Great Minds, an education public benefit corporation. He works to build products for PK-12 teachers and students that blend pedagogy and technology. His previous experience includes Long Term Research at Khan Academy and seven years of teaching high school math at OUSD’s Oakland High and Skyline High. He holds a Masters of Education from San Francisco State University and a B.S. in Math from UC Santa Barbara. His children will have each begun Blue Skies at age 5 months. His eldest is now in the Schoolroom, his middle in the Todds, and his youngest will begin in the Baby House early next year.